In Our Opinion: Do presidential debates really provide an even platform?

One side of history, at least that which has been studied and measured by the Gallup organization – as famous for their polls as Idaho is potatoes – say debates are rarely “game changers,” a 2008 Wall Street Journal article suggested.

With the exception of two times – 1960 and again in 2000 where a small movement in the public opinion generated by the debate cycle could have helped dictate the outcome – the face off between candidates is said to have been a relative non-fac...